ICANN’s letter posting policies — Verisign questions

Firm suggests ICANN is only posting letters that “will advance its positions”.

Verisign has sent a letter to ICANN questioning why it isn’t publishing certain correspondence on the ICANN.org web site.

ICANN has a section on its web site where it publishes many letters it receives and sends.

But Verisign states ICANN hasn’t published three prior letters the firm sent regarding the proposed fresh domain registry agreement. The firm states it is aware of other letters sent to ICANN regarding the registry contract that have not been published.

Verisign’s latest letter has been “published” since the firm submitted it to the comment board regarding the contract.

The fresh letter includes three previous letters the firm sent to Verisign’s general counsel dated February 20, February 15, and January 30. Verisign did not receive a response to the letters, nor were they published.

The February 20th letter criticizes ICANN for what it states is a lack of transparency and selective disclosure of correspondence related to the fresh TLD program. Verisign points out that ICANN published the Verisigns’s January 8 letter declining to participate in ICANN’s contractual compliance audit (which was negative for Verisign) but hasn’t published Verisign’s recent letters regarding the registry agreement.

“Since ICANN has published no criteria on how it decides to make letters public, we are left to conclude that ICANN posts only those letters it believes will advance its positions and withholds those thought to be critical,” the firm wrote.

A quick look at the correspondence page shows that ICANN does publish critical letters, but it’s also true that none of Verisign’s letters included in the post have been published.

I have reached out to ICANN for clarification on what its rules are (if any) for publishing correspondence on its web site.